Perilous Night by Jasper Johns was created in 1982 during the Postmodernism period. Postmodernism is used to describe art that have emerged after modernism, and contradicts the purity and form of the modernism. “Initially a tern used to reference architect, postmodernism is characterized by clean lines, geometric shapes, futuristic design, and the placement of items and objects in unusual areas. The Pompidou National Center of Art in which the scaffolds, pipes and tubes are outside of the building, making it appear to be a building under design or turn inside out is representative of this era “ (Getlein, p. 552). Similarly, Johns places objects in the shape of human arms in the right side of the painting Perilous Night that creates intrigue and opens the piece to further interpretation. Downward motion of the arms that are surrounded by multiple square and rectangular shapes makes the viewer wonder what the artist was trying to express.
Jacob Lawrence, Daybreak – A Time to Rest was also produced in the Post-Modern period, however takes on a different form of expressionism. “Expressionism is when the artist’s subjective feelings take over the objective observation” (Getlein, p. 522). “The art piece Daybreak is representative of work produced during the Harlem Renaissance movement where the experiences and tragedies of African Americans in the United States was mixed with the heritage of Africa to produce vibrant pieces filled with geometric symbolism” (Getlein, pp. 534- 535). Whereas, Perilous Night have attributes of surrealism, symbolism, and neo-expressionists.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Activity #10 Medium and Technique
Bright, vibrant colors that maintain their clarity and radiance for years, is typical o of the pieces by American artist Jacob Lawrence. To achieve this affect Lawrence chooses a “tempura medium, which is an aqueous medium like watercolor. Tempura, however dries to a tough and insoluble firm surface, similar to oil paintings. The advantage of tempura is the preservation of its original brilliance and lucidity” (Getlein, p 171-172 ). In Lawrence’s’ Daybreak - A Time to Rest primary and secondary colors are employed so intensely that it gives an impasto affect, where it appears the colors were applied in multiple layers to magnify their value. For example in the background of the piece a blue hue is used in varying value to give an illusion of a sky that is slowly fading from the darkness of a night sky to the brightness of a blue daytime sky. There are small lines of a very thin strokes of blue that almost allows the whiteness of the canvass thru that further suggest the dawning of a new day. This blue is contrast against a much intense value of blue that may be perceived as either the darkness of a night ocean or the darkness of a very far away night time sky.
Jasper Johns, also an American artist medium of choice is an “encaustic canvas in which powered color (pigment) is mixed with wax and resin. The wax when heated eases the tasks of spreading the pigments for the Artist. This technique originated in Ancient Greece and is not a popular method for contemporary artists. The advantage of using an encaustic canvas is that the wax overtime is more durable than oil paintings” (Getlein, p 169). The encaustic canvas gives the painting more visual texture, that is the paint appears to be thick, but the thickness of the paint provides a totally different affect than the thickness of the paint in a Tempura piece, in which the thickness gives a vibrancy. In an encaustic the thickness almost gives off a roughness to the piece, it provides a visual texture. In Perilous Nights, John employs all tertiary colors and the piece is divided in two halves. The right half of the portrait, there are differing values of black, the paint is spread so thickly in some spots that it is true black whereas in other spots the strokes are so light that they are vary from gray to small spots that appears void of color. There are very faint lines of violet that runs thru the right side as well, that has no apparent pattern. On the left side of the piece, John uses vertical and horizontal lines to create rectangular and square geometric shapes each with their own varying color pattern and texture. In addition to the multiple patterns and texture, John also make use of objects that definitely opens the piece to more interpretations. The arms extending downward in the upper right hand corner of the piece are objects. The objects are not obvious to the eye when viewing the piece as an image, however in the Gallery the objects are detectable and gives the piece an additional dimension.Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Activity #09 The Camera
REWRITE:
The challenges presented by the camera and photography contributed to the development of nonrepresentational or nonobjective art. These art movements originated “from the search of the true essence of art”, (Getlein, p 40). Prior to the camera, visual art was more representational of the current time. The focal point of many artists was humans, human events, and landscapes. With the introduction and later advancements of the camera what was at one time capture on canvas, could be capture on paper in a fraction of time. In the early days of the camera and still photos, the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot, this was still an improvement over a subject sitting for hours for a portrait to be painted. Hence, photography, allowed artist to explore with content and focal points that were not objective. The introduction of compact cameras in 1888, by American George Eastman made the camera portable and the artist was able to capture life in the natural, in all forms and places. Photography was practiced as an art, and techniques such as gauzing was used to remove the objectivity of the camera. The camera change visual art from representational to more expressive and abstract.
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Is it live or is it Memorex, was a popular slogan for a manufacturer of audio tape, with the technological advances in photography, there should now be a similar slogan for digital photography; is it real or retouched. Digital photography that is prominent in print, magazines and advertising has capitalized on techniques such as airbrushing to manipulate a photo into the perfect portrait. The axiom, “the camera does not lie”, is no longer true for photography. In today’s world it is questionable if any “photography is “pure” or “straight” photography as championed by Aldred Stieglitz. Pure photography is free from any type of manipulation, airbrushing, cropping, or re-coloring” (Getelien, p220).
Photography has advance tremendously since the days of still photos, where the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot. High-speed cameras are now capable of capturing a photo in as little as thirty seconds. In addition to the improvements in speed, the medium for which photography can be printed or published has advance from metal, to glass, to paper, film or computers.
The two most significant advancements in photography was the introduction of compact cameras and color. “In 1888, American George Eastman, developed the Kodak camera, it was compact and portable and the slogan you press the button, we do the rest was used to market the Kodak. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the introduction of color to photography was introduced” (Getelien, p215 - 217).
No doubt photography has a significant impact on history and art. Photography has help to record time, giving us history. Photography has provided us with optical illusions and creativity to bring us art. The only question that we are left with today, is it real or retouched?
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.
The challenges presented by the camera and photography contributed to the development of nonrepresentational or nonobjective art. These art movements originated “from the search of the true essence of art”, (Getlein, p 40). Prior to the camera, visual art was more representational of the current time. The focal point of many artists was humans, human events, and landscapes. With the introduction and later advancements of the camera what was at one time capture on canvas, could be capture on paper in a fraction of time. In the early days of the camera and still photos, the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot, this was still an improvement over a subject sitting for hours for a portrait to be painted. Hence, photography, allowed artist to explore with content and focal points that were not objective. The introduction of compact cameras in 1888, by American George Eastman made the camera portable and the artist was able to capture life in the natural, in all forms and places. Photography was practiced as an art, and techniques such as gauzing was used to remove the objectivity of the camera. The camera change visual art from representational to more expressive and abstract.
____________________________
Is it live or is it Memorex, was a popular slogan for a manufacturer of audio tape, with the technological advances in photography, there should now be a similar slogan for digital photography; is it real or retouched. Digital photography that is prominent in print, magazines and advertising has capitalized on techniques such as airbrushing to manipulate a photo into the perfect portrait. The axiom, “the camera does not lie”, is no longer true for photography. In today’s world it is questionable if any “photography is “pure” or “straight” photography as championed by Aldred Stieglitz. Pure photography is free from any type of manipulation, airbrushing, cropping, or re-coloring” (Getelien, p220).
Photography has advance tremendously since the days of still photos, where the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot. High-speed cameras are now capable of capturing a photo in as little as thirty seconds. In addition to the improvements in speed, the medium for which photography can be printed or published has advance from metal, to glass, to paper, film or computers.
The two most significant advancements in photography was the introduction of compact cameras and color. “In 1888, American George Eastman, developed the Kodak camera, it was compact and portable and the slogan you press the button, we do the rest was used to market the Kodak. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the introduction of color to photography was introduced” (Getelien, p215 - 217).
No doubt photography has a significant impact on history and art. Photography has help to record time, giving us history. Photography has provided us with optical illusions and creativity to bring us art. The only question that we are left with today, is it real or retouched?
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Activity #07 Mid-Term
Throughout history, art has been valuable means to gain insight into cultural aspects of past and current societies. From the cave-paintings of early civilizations to the murals of today art has been used to record time, document rituals or communicate stories. There was art prior to any type of formal writing system was formed. This exhibit, History and Culture in Art includes works of arts from various societies from 1570 BCE until 1859 and each piece speaks to an cultural or historic event of that time.
Selection number one is the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is depicting a funeral ritual to ensure the dead will have a smooth transition to heaven. The colors are triadic, brown, black and white. Multiple hues of brown are employed. Horizontal lines are dominant within the piece and direct the eye to the focal point of the piece, the Egyptian God at the right of the portrait. This is an asymmetrical piece, that utilizes lines for movement. The horizontal lines represents the calmness in which the Egyptians are bringing the dead to pray to the God. Interesting the most prevalent vertical lines in the portrait are the paintings on the wall, which are prayers. The prayers are going up to heaven.
Selection number two, Sennacherib II is history as recorded on a slab of stone, of tablet around 700 BCE. This piece tells the story of a siege of ancient city in Palestine. The movement of the army coming in the siege the city is illustrated in by the diagonal lines that are prevalent on both the right and left side of the piece and forms an implied geometric shape, a triangle. There are multiple implied triangles in this piece. Right at the tip of the highest triangle, the contour line of the city dips downwards as to indicate seizure by the forces marching upward. To the right of the downward dip, there is more movement upward and a gradual rebuild of the city lines, indicating victory. Like selection one, this is an asymmetric piece, most of the battle occurs to the right. There color scheme is monochromatic and hatching is used through out the portrait, specifically in the fall left and for the weapons.
Selection number one is the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is depicting a funeral ritual to ensure the dead will have a smooth transition to heaven. The colors are triadic, brown, black and white. Multiple hues of brown are employed. Horizontal lines are dominant within the piece and direct the eye to the focal point of the piece, the Egyptian God at the right of the portrait. This is an asymmetrical piece, that utilizes lines for movement. The horizontal lines represents the calmness in which the Egyptians are bringing the dead to pray to the God. Interesting the most prevalent vertical lines in the portrait are the paintings on the wall, which are prayers. The prayers are going up to heaven.
Selection number two, Sennacherib II is history as recorded on a slab of stone, of tablet around 700 BCE. This piece tells the story of a siege of ancient city in Palestine. The movement of the army coming in the siege the city is illustrated in by the diagonal lines that are prevalent on both the right and left side of the piece and forms an implied geometric shape, a triangle. There are multiple implied triangles in this piece. Right at the tip of the highest triangle, the contour line of the city dips downwards as to indicate seizure by the forces marching upward. To the right of the downward dip, there is more movement upward and a gradual rebuild of the city lines, indicating victory. Like selection one, this is an asymmetric piece, most of the battle occurs to the right. There color scheme is monochromatic and hatching is used through out the portrait, specifically in the fall left and for the weapons.
Activity #06 Art Exhibit
History and Culture in Art
Selection 1: Egyptian Book of the Dead
Date: 1570-1085 BCE
Book of the Dead" (WCA167), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).
Selection 2: Source: Sennacherib II
Date: c. 700 BCE
"Sennacharib Lays Siege to Lachish" (WCA038), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation."Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).
Selection 3: School of Athens
Date: 1509-1511
"The School of Athens" (WCF036), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).
Selection 4: Charles I
Date: 1649
"The Execution of Charles I" (WCH035), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).
Selection 5: Noble Savages
Date: c. 1700
"Noble Savages" (WCI039), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).
Selection 6: Sugar Plantation
Date: 1823
Clark, William. Ten Views in the Island of Antigua, 1823. The Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection, Daniel Burke Library, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY.
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